This Week in College Football 11/23 - 11/27

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

I'm basically saying this for the sake of argument, obviously. And it's clear that Texas had a much better season than Pitt. But considering the progression of that team in terms of their passing game and defense, it's a far better team than people are giving them credit for.

 

What's scary is that Palko is just starting to get the offense. He's going to be a force next year, if Pitt can surround him with a little talent. Greg Lee should progress a bit, but he's no stud; hopefully, they'll be able to recruit some reciever or tight end talent to give him a chance to succeed.

[teke184 0]

Whatever Pitt does, they'll do.

 

That doesn't change the fact that this year's debacle will put the conference's automatic bowl bid in jeopardy over the next three years. If Louisville, West Virginia, Syracuse, or Pitt don't step up and play balls-out for the next few years, there will be THREE At-Large bids to the BCS.

 

 

Louisville is quality, as they've been one of the top C-USA programs over the past 6-7 years along with TCU and Southern Miss, both of which have been Top 10 programs recently.

 

West Virginia had everything set up for a good run this year but they blew it against Virginia Tech and BC. If they ever get back into their early-90s form, they could be a top-6 team in the BCS.

 

Syracuse has been on a downward spiral over the past few years, but they're the only program in the new Big East to ever go to a BCS or Coalition bowl. If they get their recruiting done right, they could go back soon.

 

 

 

All of the above being said, I still feel that the new Big East will be on par with the new Conference USA comprised of Southern Miss, Memphis, UAB, UTEP, Marshall, and others.

 

The net difference in the changes to the two conferences makes them much closer than before, mainly due to the loss of the Big East's marquee teams. The teams they picked up to replace them are one good team and two media-markets with traditionally shitty teams. (South Florida was ONLY brought into the Big East to get them an "in" to Tampa, Florida) That doesn't make for a stronger conference, as I'm sure that having a Philadelphia team (Temple) and a New Jersey team (Rutgers) that both suck certainly doesn't help their TV deals either.

[CanadianChris 0]

Temple is leaving the Big East after this season.

[Slayer 0]

Two teams that are also rivals of ours

Strike 1. Regardless of the rivalry, these are still teams UT should have trounced

 

looking ahead to the SEC Championship game ever since beating South Carolina.

Strike 2. Not an excuse

 

plus playing with our third-string quarterback

Okay, you got me on that one

 

I still think UT will lose though

[Slayer 0]

After winning two squeakers against the two worst teams in their conference (not to mention two of the worst teams in all of I-A), I predict Tennessee getting it's ass thoroughly whipped by Auburn

 

I don't think Kentucky and Vanderbilt are the two worst BCS-conference teams. Are they really THAT much worse than Temple, Baylor, Indiana, Washington, Washington State, or Illinois this year?

Well, when I think of bad teams, I tend to think medium-run timespan (last ten years, usually) rather than just the current season. Temple, Baylor and Indiana I'll agree on. UW was a Pac-10 champ and contender before Neuheisel remembered who he was, and WSU won 10+ games in the last three years so I discount them.

 

Vanderbilt needs no argument to be on the worst team list, and the only time I remember UK being relevant in football was when they had Tim Couch.

 

If you expand this to other leagues, are they that much worse than 1/2 of the MAC, Mountain West, WAC, or Sun Belt? 

 

Teams like Idaho, Utah State, UL-Lafayette, UL-Monroe, and San Jose State are perennial cellar-dwellars in mid-majors.

You're not gonna let this die are you

[cabbageboy 0]

UK was pretty good under Bear Bryant...in the early 50s. Oh, and they also had a couple of good years in the 70s. And the sorta decent Couch team in 98.

 

Tennessee should beat UK by 4 TDs at home, there was no excuse for being as crap as they were yesterday. I mean do you realize they gave a career day to SHANE BOYD??? Do you know how bad Boyd is? He was Jared Lorenzen's BACKUP!

 

I will say this about UK....I think they held U of L to fewer points than anyone including Miami. U of L scored 28 on them, 1st game.

 

U of L has a real schitzo defense. We can shut people down (UK, UNC, Cincy) or give up a lot of yards (Miami, Memphis, even TCU and Houston). Here is what I don't get though about Boise being ahead of us in the BCS: Who has Boise really beaten? I mean U of L has played Miami tough (who might go to the BCS), beaten an 8-3 Memphis, and utterly maimed a couple of other bowl caliber teams in UNC and Cincy. Sure we've played some jobbers in CUSA but at least we didn't struggle with them like Boise did with San Jose St. for instance.

[teke184 0]

The reason I don't let things like that die quietly is that Vandy, when coached by Woody Widenhofer, had one of the best defenses in the country year-in year-out despite severe recruiting limitations.

 

(A private school with high academic standards has more trouble recruiting than, say, Mississippi State. They'd be mroe at home in the ACC competing against North Carolina, Wake Forest, Maryland, etc.)

 

That puts them above Baylor, Temple, and Indiana just because, on any given day, they can upset even the best team while those three are typically blowout wins for any Big East, Big Ten, or Big 12 team.

[teke184 0]

Here is what I don't get though about Boise being ahead of us in the BCS: Who has Boise really beaten? I mean U of L has played Miami tough (who might go to the BCS), beaten an 8-3 Memphis, and utterly maimed a couple of other bowl caliber teams in UNC and Cincy. Sure we've played some jobbers in CUSA but at least we didn't struggle with them like Boise did with San Jose St. for instance.

Boise beat Oregon State and that's about it for big-name quality teams.

 

 

The computers love them, apparently, because they're scoring machines and undefeated, despite the fact that their SoS blows.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

You can argue that UK is one of the worst BCS division schools because they lost to Ohio who are job boys to every mid-major around.

[Damaramu 0]

And the Top 3 remain steadfast of course when only 1 of 3 play I suppose that happens.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Some minor bowl news:

 

Like Vern guessed, after Northwestern's loss, the Music City Bowl invited Minnesota, who officially accepted. Liberty Bowl officials were at Boise State/Nevada last night and invited Boise afterwards, so the Broncos should be a lock for that game unless Cal loses to Southern Miss and Boise sneaks into the BCS.

 

Pitt made it into both the AP and Coaches' polls, at #19 and #21, respectively, so Syracuse's chances of sneaking past them for the BCS bid look very slight.

[teke184 0]

Some minor bowl news:

 

Like Vern guessed, after Northwestern's loss, the Music City Bowl invited Minnesota, who officially accepted. Liberty Bowl officials were at Boise State/Nevada last night and invited Boise afterwards, so the Broncos should be a lock for that game unless Cal loses to Southern Miss and Boise sneaks into the BCS.

 

Pitt made it into both the AP and Coaches' polls, at #19 and #21, respectively, so Syracuse's chances of sneaking past them for the BCS bid look very slight.

Don't underestimate South Florida's ability to fuck itself over in the long run by beating Pitt and giving the bid to Syracuse.

[cabbageboy 0]

South Florida is a curious team really. U of L stomped the shit out of them badly this year, yet I saw them put together a brilliant 4th quarter to take out UAB. UAB is really about the same as Pitt, maybe a little weaker but not much. Where's that game played?

[teke184 0]

It's in Tampa. The reason it's this late in the season is that a hurricane rescheduled it.

[Bored 0]

UAB has accepted an invitation to the Hawaii Bowl, their first bowl game ever. I figured they would have been invited the GMAC Bowl since the game is played in Alabama.

 

Adrew Walter's season is over after seperating his shoulder.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

South Florida is certainly not that bad, and the program has been improving at a rapid rate. 4 years ago the football team barely existed. They won't be threatening UF or FSU anytime soon, but the move to the Big East should be good for recruiting. They'll be bowling within a few years.

[teke184 0]

South Florida is certainly not that bad, and the program has been improving at a rapid rate. 4 years ago the football team barely existed. They won't be threatening UF or FSU anytime soon, but the move to the Big East should be good for recruiting. They'll be bowling within a few years.

I'm soured on South Florida because they got talked up huge when they joined Conference USA and they never played up to all the hype.

 

The only reason anyone is willing to deal with a developing program like that is that Tampa is a big media market, although I'm not sure anyone IN Tampa gives a shit about the team.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Notre Dame's accepted a bid to the Insight.com Bowl.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

The only reason anyone is willing to deal with a developing program like that is that Tampa is a big media market, although I'm not sure anyone IN Tampa gives a shit about the team.

Nope, they definitely don't. The only college football story in Florida is whether you went to UF or FSU.

[iggymcfly 0]

I don't think Kentucky and Vanderbilt are the two worst BCS-conference teams.  Are they really THAT much worse than Temple, Baylor, Indiana, Washington, Washington State, or Illinois this year?

How the hell do you include Washington State in this list? They went 5-6 and they'd be in the Emerald Bowl if they didn't play their worst game of the season against Colorado, dropping about 10 passes and fumbling at least 7 or 8 times. They beat UCLA and New Mexico on the road, and certainly are a step above Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

.

 

Boise beat Oregon State and that's about it for big-name quality teams.

 

The computers love them, apparently, because they're scoring machines and undefeated, despite the fact that their SoS blows.

 

Am I the only one who knows anything about the BCS? The computers are not allowed to take into account scoring margin in any fashion. The only things they look at are wins and losses, and the quality of opponents. If they knew about the points, Boise State would have dropped a lot for nearly losing to about four shitty teams.

[Damaramu 0]

How many national titles does USC have? B/c I've read 8 and they said 10 on TV last night.

And how many does ND have? I've heard anywhere from 10-14.

[Bored 0]

Notre Dame (9 undisputed, 4 split): 1924, 1929, 1930, 1938 (split), 1942 (split), 1943, 1946, 1947 (split), 1949, 1966, 1973 (split), 1977, 1988

 

USC (4 undisputed, 6 split): 1928 (split), 1931, 1932 (split), 1939 (split), 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974 (split), 1978 (split), 2003 (split)

[cabbageboy 0]

It's all mythical dude, anyone can lay some kind of claim to it. Hell I think even UK has a claim on a football title from 1950 or so (when they beat OU in the Sugar Bowl?). Hell Penn St. outta lay a claim to the 1994 nat. title, who can disprove them? They didn't lose.

[Bored 0]

That's what makes Division I-A college football so bizarre is that there is no official national champion. The trophy they get isn't a NCAA National Championship trophy that you see every other sport. So technically there is never been a real national champion in Division I-A.

 

After a quick search here's a brief article from last year on the 1950 national championship:

 

http://www.secsports.com/index.php?url_cha...l_id=&well_id=2

However, the Wildcats assembling for this year's reunion have a new accomplishment to talk about. Recognition came about a half-century after the fact, but the 1950 Kentucky team finally has received its just reward - the national championship - according to the Jeff Sagarin computer rankings.

 

Why did it take so long for Kentucky to be recognized as the title team for 1950?

 

In those days, The Associated Press and other polls only recognized the regular season. Therefore, the national champion(s) was chosen after the regular season, but before the bowl games. For example, that's why Oklahoma was ranked No. 1 in the final AP poll for 1950 and UK was ranked No. 7.

 

That's where the Sagarin rankings come into play. Sagarin has been analyzing college football by computer since 1973 and currently provides the computer rankings for USA Today.

 

In 1982, Sagarin began reviewing additional seasons, beginning with 1972 and working in reverse chronological order. It's a long, tedious process. Sagarin does extensive research in verifying scores and game locations before loading the data into his computer for analysis. Sagarin didn't complete the 1950 season until 1997.

 

Because there is no "official" national champ in Division I-A football, the NCAA Football Media Guide lists the champions chosen by various organizations, such as The Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, Sagarin ratings, etc. When Sagarin completed the 1950 analysis, the NCAA quietly added it to the record book and it went unnoticed in Kentucky until recently.

 

Of course, Kentucky isn't the only team with a claim on the 1950 title. Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Princeton also share the championship for that year. Let's take a look at each of their seasons:

 

Oklahoma is the national champion by six selectors listed in the NCAA Record Book. Why They Should Be National Champions: The Sooners went 10-1 and had a 31-game winning streak. Why They Shouldn't: They lost their bowl game, which probably would be a fatal blow in today's voting environment.

 

Tennessee is recognized by five selectors. Why They Should Be National Champions: The Volunteers won their last 10 games en route to an 11-1 mark, topped by a win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl. The Vols also posted a 7-0 win over Kentucky in Knoxville. Why They Shouldn't: The blemish on Tennessee's record was an early season loss to a mediocre Mississippi State team.

 

Princeton was chosen by two selectors. Why They Should be National Champions: The Tigers finished 9-0 and it's hard to argue against an unbeaten team. Why They Shouldn't: Strength of schedule hurts Princeton. The Sagarin analysis, for example, lists the Tigers as No. 101 in strength of schedule that year.

 

Kentucky is named by one selector. Why They Should be National Champions: The Wildcats were 11-1 and beat No. 1-ranked Oklahoma in the bowl game. Why They Shouldn't: In today's climate, the Sugar Bowl win might not be enough to offset the late-season loss at Tennessee.

[Damaramu 0]

Bored where do you search to find all this stuff at? Do you just do a Google search or what? B/c I f'n hate google. It never returns me what I want.

[iggymcfly 0]

I find just about everything I ever need to know on Google. You just have to know how to enter keywords that will be picked up on, and know how to scan through the results. This is where you actually get a little something out of all that wasted time looking at porn.

[2GOLD 0]

Enough of the Div I-A bull of never getting a real national champion. Time to focus on teams that actual use a crazy concept of deciding it on the field.

 

DIVISION I-AA PLAYOFFS

#1 Southern Illinois was upset by #16 Eastern Washington, 35-31

#2 Furman rolled over #15 Jacksonville, 49-7

#3 William and Mary knocked off #14 Hampton, 42-35

#4 Georiga Southern lost to #13 New Hampshire, 27-23, the first ever first round loss for Georiga Southern

 

Other games in the tournament

#5 Sam Houston St hammered #12 Western Kentucky, 54-24

#6 Montana crushed #11 Northwestern St. 56-7

#7 Lehigh got caught off guard by #10 James Madison, 14-13

and finally

Defending champion and #8 Delaware defeated #9 Lafeyette, 28-14

 

Offically, the teams after four do not receive seeds but they were the host schools and it's obvious where they are seeded.

 

So your second round is as follows:

 

#16 Eastern Washington vs #5 Sam Houston St

#6 Montana vs #13 New Hampshire

#3 William and Mary vs #8 Delaware

#10 James Madison vs #2 Furman

[iggymcfly 0]

Actually, if you're seeding by the position in the bracket, then it should be more like this:

 

5. Montana

6. Delaware

7. Lehigh

8. Sam Houston

 

However, they really don't seed the lower schools. They put the shitty teams against the top four seeds, and give out home games based on who has the best fans. For instance, Montana can actually pull in about 18 to 20 thousand paid even in the dead of winter, so the I-AA committee gives them home games whenever remotely possible.

 

EWU was apparently classified as a "shitty team", but after picking up the victory, they get a home game for having better fan support than Sam Houston.

 

I really hope the Montana/New Hampshire game's on TV. I'm not driving 300 miles back to Missoula to watch it, but I would like to at least catch it on TV. I don't think FSN has a daytime conflict; they should grab it if ESPN2 doesn't.

[Bored 0]

Conference USA fills out their bowl bids: Memphis to GMAC, Southern Miss to New Orelans, Cincinnati to Ft. Worth. Here's the current list of accepted invites:

 

New Orleans: North Texas vs. Southern Miss

Liberty: Louisville vs. Boise State (if they don't get in the BCS)

 

GMAC: Memphis

Ft. Worth: Cincinnati

Hawaii: UAB

Insight: Notre Dame

Alamo: Ohio State

Houston: UTEP

Emerald: Navy

Continental Tire: North Carolina

Sun: Purdue

Music City: Minnesota

Outback: Wisconsin

Capital One: Iowa

Rose: Michigan

 

Edit: West Virginia has accepted an invite to the Gator Bowl. So Boston College has gone from a BCS game to probably the Continental Tire Bowl.

[Slayer 0]

Enough of the Div I-A bull of never getting a real national champion. Time to focus on teams that actual use a crazy concept of deciding it on the field.

That is why all the arguments against a D-IA playoff system (academic excuses, TV, etc.) are all bullshit to me. The simple existence of playoffs in the other three divisions of the NCAA debunk them.